Ruth Buerkley

Ruth Buerkley, 97, of Kulm, ND, passed away July 14, 2023 at Prince of Peace Care Center, Ellendale, ND. Ruth's wishes were to have her body donated to science. A Memorial service will be held on Friday, July 28, 2023, at 11:00 am at Kulm Baptist Church, Kulm, ND.
Ruth (Schock) Buerkley was born May 12, 1926 south of Fredonia in McIntosh County to John and Christina (Martz) Schock. She was the 3rd daughter of 6 sisters and 2 older brothers. Ruth married Robert Lee Buerkley on October 1, 1944. They lived in St Paul, MN until 1946, then they returned to Kulm ND.
Ruth was employed as a clerk at the Emil Anderson store, waitress at Jim's Café and Jake's Coffee, bookkeeper at Farmer's Union Station, teller at the Kulm State Bank and later opened up her own gift shop where Bob also ran a lawn mower sales and repair shop. In 1979 she started selling Watkins out of her gift shop. She then retired and sold Watkins at different towns until 2005, but still continued selling out of her home. They traveled to many Watkins conventions and camped over the years, where they enjoyed visiting and meeting new people.
Ruth was an active member of the Baptist Church in Kulm, where she taught Sunday school and sang in the choir, and helped with Awana. Ruth loved children and at almost any event or function, if you couldn't find her, there was a good chance she was off visiting with the kids somewhere. She served on the Child Evangelism Board and was also a counselor for Good News Camp. She put on many miles walking around Kulm, and she almost always had a Nib candy to offer you, butter rum was her favorite!
Ruth moved to an apartment in Kulm following the death of Bob in 2005. She continued to live there up until entering the Manor in Edgeley in January of 2017. Unfortunately, once the weather got nice, she told one of the nurses walking 15 miles to Kulm to visit her sister was no big deal! Therefore, she made the move to Prince of Peace in Ellendale and continued living there until the time of her death.
Ruth is survived by sisters Emma Klipfel and Violet Moncur; sister-in-laws, Vivian Heidinger and Marilyn Weiler; brother-in-law, Fred (Sophia) Buerkley and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Robert, brothers Enoch and Rueben, sisters Esther Schlauch, Ida Weideman and Ella Buerkley, 5 sister-in-laws and 11 brother-in-laws.